Gruyere Popovers Are the Ideal Weapon for this Artic Winter

Popovers Warm from the Oven Fill the House with the Most Amazing Smell.

It's cold in Chicago nowadays. Like, really cold. 10 degrees below zero when we wake up cold. Our driveway is an ice rink cold. Walking around without a hat is not an option cold. The only way to fight back with all that ice and snow is with baking and filling the house with the sweet and savory smells of warmth.

On a bitter winter night, when I want to make an average meal something really memorable, I whip up a batch of popovers. These little puffs of cheesy bread just melt in your mouth. They're the ideal complement to a pork roast that's been braising in cider all day long in your slow cooker.

This recipe whips up in less than five minutes with just a quick pulses of your blender. The toughest part is keeping the oven door for the full twenty-two minutes they take to bake. The penalty for peeking is pretty dire. These babies will fall and you'll be having warm cheesy pancakes instead of light and fluffy popovers.

Plunging a knife into the popovers is scary, but it will keep them beautiful and tasty.

Gruyere Popovers
Makes 16 popovers
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 22 minutes
Ingredients:
4 eggs
1 cup of grated Gruyere cheese (I love the sharp nuttiness of gruyere but if you can't find it at your local grocer, substitute Swiss cheese)
3/4 cups of skim milk
3/4 cups of heavy cream (alternatively, you can use 1 1/2 cups of whole milk)
4 Tablespoons of salted butter, melted
1 Tablespoon of Dijon Mustard
1 1/3 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of kosher salt
a little extra butter or pan spray for the pans

1. Take two muffin tins (or popover tins if you have them. I don't and am very happy with these.) and grease them, then place them in your cold oven on the middle shelf.
2. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
3. IN a blender, combine your eggs, milk, heavy cream, mustard, and melted butter. Pulse a few times to blend and break up the eggs.
4. Add the flour, salt, and gruyere and pulse until just blended.
5. Once your oven has reached its temperature, remove the pans and fill each muffin hole 3/4 of the way, moving as quickly as you can.
6. Return the filled pans to the oven and cook until puffy and golden, between 22 and 25 minutes.
7. Remove the popovers from the oven, pierce each in the middle to let the steam escape and pop them out of their holes with the tip of a knife. Serve them while they are still steaming.
8. Leftover popovers can be kept in a sealed container on the counter for a few days. With 10-15 seconds in the microwave, they make a fantastic stew sandwich for lunch.

L'Shanah Tovah and a Recipe for Challah

L'Shanah Tovah! Happy New Year!
Holidays are the toughest time to be away from family. Today is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. A holiday we typically celebrate with my husband's parents by dipping apples in honey and eating a big dinner. For the kids, as well as for us, the centerpiece of the meal is always Mimi's Challah bread, lovingly braided and baked in sufficient quantities for her grandkids to eat all weekend and have leftovers to take home.

This year, with all the craziness of adjusting to our new lives in Ohio, we just couldn't make it back to New Jersey for the holiday. Tonight we'll be bringing in the new year with the family of one of Steve's co-workers, a warm and welcoming home, but without Mimi's special touches.

When the mailman rang the doorbell, I had no idea what a special treat he was carrying. You should have seen the delight on Juliette's face when she pulled back the aluminum foil to find the golden hued bread she associates with her Mimi. I was already tearing up when she said, "Mommy, we have to wait for Mimi before we eat it."

Mimi's Challah Recipe (makes 2 loaves)

Ingredients:

2 packages of dry yeast

2 cups of water (just slightly warm to the touch)

1 TBSP of salt

1/4 cup of sugar

1/3 cup of oil

1/3 cup of honey

4 eggs

6 or more cups of unsifted bread flour (to start and then add more until the dough is smooth and not sticky)

1. Dissolve 2 packages of yeast in 2 cups of lukewarm water. Let stand 5 minutes.
2. While waiting, put salt, sugar, and first cup of flour in bowl of mix master and stir to blend with fork. Add water/yeast mixture. Start mixmaster going on medium speed with dough hook.
3. Add oil, honey, and eggs gradually with intermittent cups of flour, mixing constantly until smooth and elastic.
4. Turn onto dough onto board. Make a well in the middle and fill with some flour. Knead the dough incorporating the flour around the edge as needed until dough is smooth and not sticky.
5. Put into greased bowl. Cover bowl with thin dish towel and put in slightly warm oven with a small bowl of hot tap water. Let rise 1 hour.
6. Punch down dough and cut in half to form 2 loaves.
7. Cut each half into 2 pieces about 1/3 and 2/3. Then cut each piece into thirds. You should have a total of 12 pieces - 6 small and 6 large. Roll each piece into a long rope.
8. Take three long pieces and attach at one end. Braid. Set aside. Repeat with the other three long pieces.
9. Take three small pieces and attach at one end. Braid. Set aside. Repeat with the other three short pieces.
10. Lay one short piece braid over one long piece braid and pinch to bind together. Repeat with other two braids. You now have your two Challahs.
11. Beat one egg yolk with 1 TBSP of water. Brush each challah with the yolk mixture. Let rise for about 1/2 hour as oven preheats to 375 degrees.
12. Bake for 30 minutes in oven.